I may be old school, or maybe I just work in Illustrator a lot, but I could do this in 25% of the time with the pen tool and achieve a more accurate initial selection. Edge feathering could still be accomplished with the use of a layer mask.

No?

Franklin, sometimes I think Adobe builds too many bells & wistles into these new versions. The result is bloatware that runs slower and yields questionable “improvement.” I know you’re on the payroll so I won’t expect support, but if you instructors were to encourage teaching the program’s core features, there would be a better and smarter PS user base.